Will the World Cup Change South Africa? (look what it did for Detroit! lol)

[The Village Idiot]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/davidbond/2010/05/will_the_world_cup_change_sout.html



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Former South African president Thabo Mbeki predicted the 2010 World Cup would be the moment when the African continent "turned the tide on centuries of poverty and conflict".

It was a grand claim from a man of poetry as well as politics.

But with one month to go to Africa's first World Cup, it is evident that such ambitions were never likely to be fulfilled by a sports event, no matter how big and how lucrative.

For this World Cup will make more money than any in the history of the event. A total of $3.3bn (£2.1bn) has been raised by Fifa from television and sponsors, dwarfing the amount made in Germany four years ago.

It has also been one of the most expensive World Cups to put on. Fifa has spent $1.1bn (£800m), while South Africa has paid out $5bn (£3.5bn) getting the Rainbow Nation ready for its biggest moment since the 1995 Rugby World Cup, building stadiums, roads and public transport links.

Having spent the last week here, travelling from Cape Town to Johannesburg and now on to England's training camp at Rustenburg, it is clear South Africa is ready.

Some cosmetic work remains to be done to roads and at airports. At Soccer City, where the World Cup will start and finish, a bit of landscaping is all that is needed to complete a magnificent setting.

The stadium is achievement enough, but the area around it has been transformed since I first visited the site three years ago. New roads and a shiny new station for theGautrain has also been built, providing firm evidence of the impact this World Cup has already had on the country.

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[The Village Idiot]

South Africa Police war of Cup visit by Obama

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/sports/soccer/09soccer.html

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South Africa’s police commissioner said on Friday that his job would be easier if the United States were knocked out of the World Cup in the first round, avoiding the security challenge of a possible visit by President Obama.

General Bheki Cele told a parliamentary police committee meeting in Cape Town that it was “50-50” whether Obama would visit, but that the police had been told Obama might visit if the Americans made the knockout stage of the tournament.

“One challenge is the American president, who is coming, not coming, coming, not coming,” Cele said. “Our famous prayer is that the Americans don’t make the second round. That they get eliminated and they go home.”

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[Odin's Hand]

Cele said. “Our famous prayer is that the Americans don’t make the second round. That they get eliminated and they go home.”

But, keep that foreign aid money flowing America!

[The Village Idiot]

Property in South Africa: Could Johannesburg be the world's best place to live?

(writer has lost their ever loving mind)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/expatproperty/7675976/Property-in-South-Africa-Could-Johannesburg-be-the-worlds-best-place-to-live.html



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Rivonia was originally termed "peri-urban" or rural so a lot of the houses are farm style conversions. It’s pretty central in terms of the Sandton central business district (CBD) and has access to lots of shopping, malls and retail parks. It’s very pretty with loads of trees and good roads and it straddles Rivonia Road, the main drag through Sandton,close to two major highways. Rivonia has great schools and a thriving nightlife. Within a kilometre you can experience Italian, Chinese, Japanese and Taiwanese cuisine, nouveau cuisine, fine dining and streetside cafes.

What’s available

I live in a converted farmhouse from the 1930s. It still has an outhouse, which we use as a storeroom. Lots of thick white uneven walls, wooden doors and window frames and Oregon pine flooring. It’s surrounded by half an acre of grass and fruit trees. If this kind of upkeep is not your bag, there are literally hundreds of townhouse apartments within a five kilometre radius, the result of older residents on larger stands selling on to developers.

Price range

Rivonia property is priced towards the lower end of Sandton real estate. You can pick up a similar property for anything ranging from about 1.8 million rand to 4 or 5 million at the top end. Townhouses, two and three bed range from 700 000 rand to two million, but you can rent for anything between four and seven thousand a month. Considering that not six kilometres further up in Morningside and Sandown, a furnished and service apartment can run to 25 thousand rand a month, it’s good value (although there you are within walking distance of three major banks and the stock exchange). And, as I never tire of telling my UK-based brother, he could snap up over two thousand square metres of real estate for £50,000.


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